I need to write *something*. The trouble is I'm not sure what to write. There are a few alt.callahans people who read my journal. One of the things going through my head lately is why I left The Place (alt.callahans for non-callahan people, or ac too). It was because I became one-dimensional.

The "Nite Mirror" persona took on a life of his own, and the person behind him got eclipsed by that persona. I was a stickler for my personal privacy and Nite Mirror was originally created to be semi-anonymous on the internet.

Then, real or not, it seemed to me the Nite Mirror had gained a following. I got an inflated ego. Well, over the course of years (as the Nite Mirror I've been on the 'net for over 10 years now), that ego was inflated and deflated several times.

Toward the end I was putting gibberish out. After I realized this Nite Mirror persona was seriously ... flawed. I basically killed him. I vowed NM would never post to any newsgroup again. If I showed up in ac it would be under a different name and "persona" (still had some privacy issues), but that never happened. I knew I'd fall into the same trap of posting junk even if I used a different name.

Now here I am on LJ using the Nite Mirror name still. The difference here is I can delete the junk easier than elsewhere on the net (and those who have been reading my journal for any length of time no doubt noticed some disappearing entries), or in the case of my meeting the_iron_lady a disappearing comment (I was enough of an LJ newbie that I didn't know comments were forwarded via email back then).

I hadn't intended this to be a history of the Nite Mirror, but it seems it has. This could have just as easily been about doctors and how I'm fed up with them. (I flunked a blood test -- gotta study harder next time), but if I write about that it won't be tonight.

alt.callahans is an internet discussion newsgroup (aka usenet group) based on a series of science fiction books written by Spider Robinson. The rally cry for both the books and that newsgroup is "shared joy increases, and shared sorrow decreases."

I'd recommend all but the last book in the series (_Callahan's Key_ wasn't as good as the earlier books, although it did place the desire for me to see the Florida Keys on some future vacation I may take). Be warned though all the Callahan books are full of puns.